LESSON XII.--DECEMBER 18.

OTHER PARABLES.-- MATT. 13:31-33; 44-52.

      GOLDEN TEXT.--So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from the just.--MATT. 13:49.
      TIME AND PLACE.--As in the preceding lesson.
      HELPFUL READINGS.--Review the parable of the Sower, Matt. 13:36-43; the parable of the Tares, Matt. 13:18-23; Mark 4:30-32; Luke 13:18-21.
      LESSON ANALYSIS.--l. The Growth of the Kingdom; 2. The Value of the Kingdom; 3. The Wicked Severed from the Just.

INTRODUCTION.

      The third and fourth parables follow logically after that of the Tares. It is well to notice the connection of thought. 1. The Sower shows the effect of sowing the good seed of the kingdom and how much depends on the proper preparation of the heart. 2. The Tares show that the Enemy will sow as well as the Son of man, and that tares will remain among the wheat until the judgment. 3. The third and fourth parables show that the tares will not take the wheat because of the wonderful growth of the kingdom. 4. The fifth shows the inestimable value of the kingdom. 5. And the sixth that the gospel net will often draw in worthless fish, which will be separated at the judgment. The parables of the Mustard Seed and the Leaven form a pair; both pointing to the growth of Christianity from small beginnings; the former to its extensive power, in consequence of its inherent capacity for development; the latter to its intensive power, all the more pervasive because noiseless.--Schaff.

      1. THE GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM.--31. Another parable put he forth unto them. This is the third parable in succession drawn from agricultural experience. After the difficulties in the beginning (the sower), and the mixture of evil, have been emphasized, the successful result is foretold. The lesson of patience is again enforced, but hope directly encouraged. Like a grain of mustard seed. The mustard-plant (sinapis orientalis, or nigra) was a shrub, bearing pods; but In Eastern countries and in the South of Europe it is cultivated for its seed. The Jews grew mustard in their gardens. Its round seed-corns (4-6 in a pod) were proverbially characterized by them as the smallest thing, which indeed holds true so far as the various kinds of seed-corn used in Jewish husbandry are concerned, though scientific botany knows still smaller seeds.--Lange. It would be difficult to find an emblem which [341] more faithfully represents the history of the visible Church of Christ than this grain of mustard-seed.--Ryle.

      32. Which, indeed, is the least of all seeds. The least of all the field or garden seeds sown in Palestine. Less in proportion to the size which it obtains at its maturity.--P. The mustard-seed is not the least of all seeds in the world, but of all which the husbandman was accustomed to sow; and the "tree," when full grown, was larger than the other herbs in his garden.--Maclear. But when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs. All herbs cultivated in the fields or gardens of Palestine. Not absolutely, but in relation to the small size of the seed. The herb of our English garden is but a pygmy in comparison with the giant growth of a richer soil and a warmer clime. Dr. Hooker measured a mustard-plant in the Jordan Valley ten feet high.--Biblical Things not Generally Known. It grew into an herbaceous plant, as tall as a horse and his rider.--Thomson. The growth of a mighty kingdom is not here for the first time likened to that of a tree. Many of our Lord's hearers must have been familiar with such a comparison from the Scriptures of the Old Testament.--Trench. Daniel uses the growth of the tree to typify that of an earthly kingdom (Daniel 4:10-12), Ezekiel to symbolize that of the kingdom of God (Ezek. 17:22-24; comp. Ps. 80:8-11). This is the point to which the Lord calls special attention, not to the greatness of the mustard-tree in itself, but its greatness as compared with the seed from whence it springs; for what he would teach his disciples was not (merely) that his kingdom should be glorious, but that it should be glorious despite its weak and slight and despised beginnings.--Trench. And becometh a tree. Professor Hackett, after long and doubtful search, found on the plains of Akka, on the way to Carmel, a little forest of mustard trees, which he thus interestingly describes: "It was then in blossom, full grown, in some cases six, seven, and nine feet high, with a stem or trunk an inch or more in thickness, throwing out branches on either side. I was now satisfied in part. I felt that such a plant might well be called a tree, and, in comparison with the seed producing it, a great tree. But still the branches, or stems of the branches, were not very large, or apparently very strong. Can the birds, I said to myself, rest upon them? Are they not too slight and flexible? Will they not bend or break beneath the superadded weight? At that very instant, as I stood and revolved the thought, lo I one of the fowls of heaven stopped in its flight through the air, alighted down on one of the branches, which hardly moved beneath the shock, and then began, perched there before my eyes, to warble forth a strain of the richest music. All my doubts were now charmed away. I was [342] delighted at the incident. It seemed to me at the moment as if I enjoyed enough to repay me for all the trouble of the whole journey."

      APPLICATION.--"The interpretation of the parable lies almost on the surface. Here, again, the sower is the Son of man; but the seed in this case is not so much the 'word' as the Christian society, the church, which forms, so to speak, the first-fruits of the word. As it then was, it was smaller than any sect or party in Palestine or Greece or Italy. It was sown in God's field of the world, but it was to grow till it became greater than any sect or school, a tree among the trees of the forest, a kingdom among other kingdoms,--a great organized society; and the birds of the air, i. e., the systems of thought, institutions, and the like, of other races, were to find refuge under its protection." This parable, like most others respecting the kingdom of God, has a double reference,--general and individual. (1) In the general sense the insignificant beginnings of the kingdom are set forth; the little babe cast in the manger at Bethlehem; the man of sorrows, with no place to lay his head; the crucified One; or again the hundred and twenty names who were the seed of the church after the Lord had ascended; then we have the kingdom of God waxing onward and spreading its branches here and there, and different nations coming into it. (2) The individual application points to the small beginnings of divine grace; a word, a thought, a passing sentence, may prove to be the little seed which eventually fills and shadows the whole heart and being, and calls all thoughts, all passions, all delights, to come and shelter under it.--Alford.

      33. The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven. In those days a piece of the leavened dough from an unbaked loaf was put among the new dough to cause fermentation. Usually the term leaven is used in the Scripture of evil influences which extend rapidly, but here, of the good and gracious influence of the gospel. Which a woman. Some have seen in "a woman" the symbol of the church (see Rev. 12:1), but I suppose that the reason for the use of the term is that the women were the bread-bakers of Palestine. A man is the actor in the parable of the Sower, etc., because men sow the seed. Three measures of meal. The usual amount for one baking, an ephah (see Gen. 18:6; Judges 6:19; 1 Sam. 1:24). The leaven is taken from without and "hid" in the meal, or flour. The hidden leaven, though only a small quantity, imparts its qualities to the large mass, till all was leavened. The Parable teaches that the Gospel is the leavening influence of the world. It does its work silently; it leavens first that in immediate contact, then quietly extends its influence; it, lodged in the heart, leavens the whole life. It will keep working on until it leavens the whole earth. [343]

      II. THE VALUE OF THE KINGDOM.--44. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in the field. Of inestimable value, though that value is lost sight of by the world. The people of Palestine, even now, have a strange passion for treasure-seeking, and not a few spend their last farthing in ruinous efforts. Valuables which, with us, are entrusted to bankers, are in the East buried in fields and gardens to save them from robbers and accidents.--Schaff. For joy thereof. The man who finds it is elated over the discovery, and expends all that he has to buy the field in order to become the owner of the treasure. This parable teaches the immense value, priceless, of the gospel; and that one who finds out that value will give up everything else in order to possess himself of the privileges, and hopes of the kingdom.

      45. A merchant man seeking goodly pearls. Pearls were then esteemed as the most valuable ornaments and were sought by merchants on distant shores, the most valuable being brought from the Indian Ocean.

      46. Having found one pearl of great price. He was willing to invest everything he had in this pearl of surpassing beauty and worth. We are all pearl-hunters. We want to find the pearl of happiness and blessing. We are willing to give everything else we have for it. If we think pleasure, or wealth, or fame, or power is the pearl, all else has to give way in order that we may secure it. Often we fancy that we see the pearl before us, but when we get it it is only an imitation. The real pearl is the kingdom in our hearts. He who finds out about it will part with all else to secure it, for we Will "count all else loss so we may win Christ."

      III. THE WICKED SEVERED FROM THE JUST.--47. The kingdom of heaven is like a net. The Savior's illustrations all come home to his audience. Many were husbandmen; many were women familiar with the culinary art; some were merchants; many were fishermen. A drag net or seine is meant. Gathered every kind. Here again, as in the parable of the Tares, it is taught that, at the end-of the world, the angels shall sever the wicked from the just; in the parable of the Tares the reference is to the wicked generally; here to [344] those who are found in the church. It would be found in all experience that some of these would be found in the earthly kingdom and that no effort could keep them out. The Lord teaches that they will not enter the New Jerusalem, but shall, at the end of the world, suffer the same fate as the rest of the wicked. The sea is a scriptural symbol for "the nations" (Rev. 17:15; Isa. 8:7; Ps. 65:7).

      48. When it was filled. The fishermen cannot stop to sort while they are drawing the net. Nor can the preachers of the gospel always distinguish. They drew to shore. The shores of time in the application. Then the separation takes place.

      49. So shall it be at the end of the world. Then, not men, but the angels, under the direction of the Son of Man, shall sever the wicked from the just. The fate of the wicked drawn in the gospel net is described in similar language to that of the wicked sown by the enemy in the field of the world.

      50. Shall cast them into the furnace of fire. Here is repeated, word for word, the language of verse 42. The tares, the chaff, the corrupt trees, the barren tree, are all represented as burned, and here also the wicked are cast into a furnace. While I suppose that the language is a figure it can only be understood as indicating that the sufferings of Gehenna, the abode of the wicked, are intense. See Matt. 8:12.

PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE.

      Never despise humble and feeble beginnings. A spark has burned up a city; snowflakes stopped every railroad train in a State.

      Religion is the most important thing in the soul, and brings all faculties and powers under its influence. [345]

      The growth of the kingdom in the world is mighty, from a seed at Pentecost to a tree shadowing all the earth.

      The difference between a grain of mustard seed and a great tree is nothing to that between a young convert on earth and a glorified saint in heaven. See John 12:24.-M. Henry.

      The difference between the kingdom on the first Pentecost of the church and in this Nineteenth Century is greater than that between a mustard seed and a great tree.

      MUSTARD SEED.--Incidentally it is worthy of notice that the mustard seed is pungent, penetrating, searching, and must be bruised before it will give out its virtues, and when it is grown gives shelter and house-room to the birds. So the seeds of truth must be pungent, penetrating, searching; so Christ, who is the seed, because he is the living and life-giving truth, must needs be bruised before he could save; so the Church of Christ, as an organization, and the Christian, in his individual life, gives shade and shelter to the oppressed and the tempted. Compare Ezek. 31:6.--Abbott.

      WILL LEAVEN THE EARTH.--We believe it because God has been preparing the world for something glorious. The last fifty years have accomplished wonders. On the American Continent, what a wonderful amalgamation of races we have witnessed, how wonderfully they have been fused into that one American people!--type and earnest of a larger fusion which Christianity will yet accomplish, when, by its blessed power, all tribes and tongues and races shall become one holy family. The present popularity of beneficences promises well for the missionary cause in the future. Men's hearts are undergoing a process of enlargement. Their sympathies are taking a wider scope. The world is getting closer, smaller,--quite a compact affair. The world for Christ will yet be realized.--Dr. Livingstone.

POINTS FOR TEACHERS.

      1. Bring out the familiar illustration. The growth of the mustard seed; what it implies. A prophecy and how fulfilled. 2. Let the nature of leaven be pointed out, how it works, and how the gospel is like leaven, and how doing its work still. 3. Show in what parables and how the Lord sets forth the priceless value of the kingdom, the hidden treasure, and the pearl. Show how all are pearl-seekers, but all do not find, what is the true pearl and what we are to be willing to give for it. 4. Illustrate the work of the fishermen, the net cast into the sea, gathering the fishes that come within its folds, good and bad, the work of separation at shore, and what all this means. 5. Bring out the great thought of this lesson. It is the GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, BOTH IN THE SOUL AND IN THE WORLD. (1) There are first given some of the laws of religious growth, variously illustrated; growth by shining, by right hearing, by giving, by right using; with the loss from misuse. (2) Secret progress, with the limits of human agency in the progress. (3) Orderly development, and the harvest that follows. (4) From small beginnings, both in the soul and in the world; but resulting (5) in complete success, filling and controlling the soul, completely triumphing in the world. (6) Nor will those [346] gain who have places nominally in the kingdom, but are not of it. At the end of the world they will be gathered out. To be saved our souls and lives must be wholly leavened.

Source: Barton Warren Johnson. The Christian International Lesson Commentary for 1887. Des Moines, IA: